Smart phones are the next generation in cellular telephony. With extraordinary computing power, built-in programmable graphics, and various communication options, smart phones provide a convenient and powerful mobile user interface for many intelligent embedded devices. Individuals can use a smart phone to perform activities such as connecting to security systems, industrial controllers, access-control systems, medical devices, environmental systems, and other systems.
These devices are typically application-driven, allowing the user to select applications from a user interface screen and install new software. Smart phones use a direct manipulation of the user interface, meaning that the user is required to select iconic representations in order to select software applications in the device. Smart phone applications also contain a menu structure with a number of options for the user selection.
As cellular telephony networks mature, devices within these networks are becoming increasingly capable of implementing connections with higher data-rates. These devices are also becoming increasingly capable of establishing data communication operations for internet-aware applications, such as browsing, multimedia messaging, chat operations, and other operations.
Although the level of technology being incorporated into smart phones is increasing every year, they still have a number of limitations. For example, as smart phones have increasingly complex user interfaces, they are still quite limited in their ability to make it easier for a user to manipulate them. Typically, the user is often required to perform the same actions repeatedly without any support from the smart phone software, with the software not aiding users in making frequent actions easier to complete, as well as not permitting significant customization of the user interface.
In recent years, some smart phones have permitted minor customizations of the user interface to take place. These customizations have included the selection of themes, language selection and similar settings. Although beneficial, these customizations are still limited and do not seriously monitor and adjust to a user's everyday activities.
European Patent Publication No. 0891066A2, assigned to Nokia Mobile Phones LTD., discloses an electronic device where a menu can be created that includes the most commonly implemented functions by a user. However, the user must still navigate through the user interface to reach the menu.